What do you think Andy and Lendl are 'working' on?

I'm so intrigued by this relationship, i like Ivan alot and think he's the perfect mentor for andy. However, Andy and Mr L act as though they have some magic trick up there sleeves all the while that they work on in practice. yet i dont see it transfering to the match court.

I mean Andy seems confused in matches right now. Indian wells he played like a ballbasher against del potro, than really defensive in the main in miami. Then 2 jekyll and hyde performances to start the clay court season!

Is Lendl trying to change too much at once? Or is andy just struggling to implement the changes in match situation? Is andy simply just short on matches? Only seems to play slams or masters these days...maybe he could experiment with his game more if he played a couple of 250's, 500's etc.

I hope their practice sessions will be more useful to Andy than a week potentially playing matches in Barcalona.

Like you I'm confused as to what Andy and Lendl might be working on, but whatever it is it certainly isn't his serve. Sure Andy can fire down aces when his serve is on form, and he can sometimes find it at crucial moments, but the lack of consistency is worrying and the powder puff second serves are a gift to his opponents.

I'm also not happy about the focus on Masters and Slams, especially as Andy said not so long ago that it was important to play and win minor tournaments in order to give him confidence for the bigger ones - yet what has he played so far? Brisbane. No Dubai and no Barcelona - both skipped in the interests of 'practising', which brings us back to the question of practising what.

If he is indeed trying to implement changes, then surely it doesn't take a genius to figure out that the best place to experiment is in a minor tournament where there's less pressure than in a Masters and where the field is likely to be a little less strong.

I'm joining in the chorus of those wishing he'd play Barcelona. However, both Ivan and Andy have said this is a "long term" project and perhaps we are expecting too much too soon?Anyway, Wawa at the age of 28, is taking on Magnus Norman, so plenty of time.xxxxxx Pollyanna

I’d like to open a counter thread and call it, “Are we expecting a bit much from Murray and Lendl?”

Let’s have a proper perspective of things. Andy has done very well since the Lendl appointment. He’s not expected to perform miracle. He’ll do as much as he can and not more. But more importantly, we need to be patient and wait a certain period of time to see what’s in store. So far I see no reason to question this partnership especially every time Andy sees a loss. I am not giving it a go at you, Rachie but just seems to be the normal notion here at times. There might just be a plan in place; there has to be one in fact. And frankly, we don’t know what it is as Lendl likes to keep things in secret. I’d rather have far more faith in this pair than anybody else.

I’d like to open a counter thread and call it, “Are we expecting a bit much from Murray and Lendl?”

Let’s have a proper perspective of things. Andy has done very well since the Lendl appointment. He’s not expected to perform miracle. He’ll do as much as he can and not more. But more importantly, we need to be patient and wait a certain period of time to see what’s in store. So far I see no reason to question this partnership especially every time Andy sees a loss. I am not giving it a go at you, Rachie but just seems to be the normal notion here at times. There might just be a plan in place; there has to be one in fact. And frankly, we don’t know what it is as Lendl likes to keep things in secret. I’d rather have far more faith in this pair than anybody else.

I think your right about us expecting alot, I am very very happy with what Andy has achieved.

I suppose my main nark which the other posters seem to agree with is what indeed they are practising that is so much more beneficial than playing actual matches!If Andy is hitting 100mph FHs in practice, and serving 2nd serve aces then thats great but its not the same as doing it in a match situation. I also thought it was interesting Miles mclaggan on sky mentioned he would be advised Andy to request WC into Barca after MC result.

I have no idea what Lendl and Andy are working on and I care even less. The way I see it is that there is no point Andy paying a coach if they aren't working on things, so they must be. What they are is their business. We don't know if things they are working on are tranfering to the match court because, quite rightly, we don't know what they are working on. I could go on all day like that. The paragraph made sense in my head, but I'm not well, so....... .

I like the fact that Lendl flatly refuses to discuss what they work on. The comms seem to think he's playing games with them, but I don't think he is. I think he's being sensible, not putting Andy under too much pressure to perform like a trained chimp. If Lendl and Andy made a big thing out of saying exactly what they are working on the comms would be waiting with baited breath, practically weeing themselves in every match, waiting for something in particular to show up, or verbally kicking Andy in the teeth when certain things don't show up. As it is, Lendl takes the approach that they know what they are working on, so they work on them and they show up in matches when, and only when, they are ready. Makes perfect sense to me.

I think we are expecting too much too soon from Lendl and Andy, because they have already acheived a lot together. Let me see, since Lendl came on board at the beginning of 2012 Andy has got to three major finals and won one of them and climbed two places in the rankings, albeit he's back at three for a bit now. He's won an Olympic gold medal (and a silver of course) and he's won his first Masters for what, 18 months? He got to two Masters finals last year, in what was considered not his best in terms of Masters. He's also having what must surely be one of his best starts to a year in 2013. He's lost just three matches for goodness sake, and has won two titles already. I'll be good and resist all temptation to say that's two more than Federer and point out that Andy won three all year last year, sure one was the USO, but.......... However, what we expect, for some reason, and I use the word 'we' advisedly, because I don't expect a thing, I merely hope for the best and see what Andy delivers, is Andy to be a good lad and start busting a gut to win everything in sight, which just isn't realistic.

I don't recall Andy saying anything about minor tournaments. What I do recall him saying is that he wants to be consistent through the year, which means scheduling wisely. It wouldn't be wise for him to play a bunch of minor tournaments, all of which adds travelling etc to the schedule, just for the sake of his ranking or even practice, because it would risk him not being fresh for the Masters and majors, and it would also put him at greater risk of injury. God forbid that Andy should lose fairly early (before the quarters) in a major because he's running on empty, having run his rear end off in a bunch of little tournaments just for the sake of his ranking or a bit of practice. The only area where I think one small tournament a year might do him good is clay, but if Andy thought he needed to play one he would have done so by now. Ferrer's been doing it for years.

I don't quite know what is going on with Andy at the moment, if anything. Indian Wells doesn't suit him and yet he went beyond the second round for the first time in two years and into the quarter finals. The conditions in Miami weren't ideal for all out aggression from any of them, but Andy won anyway. He beat Federer for the first time in a major in the AO and would at least have pushed Djokovic closer if he'd been fit, and he may well have won, oh, and he won Brisbane again. Sure, he lost to Stan badly in MC. I'll worry about that when Stan wins the French. Pigs will fly and Federer will become a human being first.

The interesting thing to me is that we don't have these post mortems when Andy wins. We didn't analyse, for example, how he destroyed Federer on the Centre Court at Wimbledon in the Olympics and what Lendl might have said on the phone to help Andy do it. We didn't question how he went about beating Djokovic in the USO final, a man who hadn't lost a hard court major in two years and has a bunch of major titles to his name, when Andy, at the time, had none. What we did was accept that Andy had won. Nothing else was that important. Maybe, just maybe, we have to take the rough with the smooth sometimes, accept that Lendl and Andy are having a decent amount of success (and then some) but that Andy isn't going to become an all-conquering hero overnight, he will sometimes lose, sometimes not by much, but sometimes by collapses in form like yesterday. It happens, and now I'm going to resist mentioning Federer in Rotterdam, although it made me laugh at the time, but I never said I was a nice person.

I think it's a bit ridiculous that we are questioning their working relationship after one bad loss on his least favourite surface, in his first tournament, playing his second match. I think some people on here should step back a bit altogether. At the end of the day we don't know anything. We aren't in his shoes, we don't know what's going on or how he is feeling. None of us even know what it takes to be a pro. We should trust his judgement. I'm pretty sure Ivan and Andy know what they are doing. Have a little faith! At least reserve your judgement until after the clay season.

As for playing Barcelona, that's a terrible idea. The clay there is way too fast and considering Andy's sub par movement on clay in general, he would have even more trouble chasing balls down and returning serves etc. He has never played well there anyway.

It seems to me that just now there are quite a few changes occurring in Andy's world. Lendl is slowly but surely taking Andy out of his comfort zone. Not an easy task, as Andy is a creature of habit, like most of us. But he's spent most of 2013 abroad, without his usual precious time in the UK away from all the pressures and demands that go with the job. There is nothing like closing the door on the world and just having some personal time, far away from the madding crowd. It was great for Andy having Kim, Maggie, Rusty and other family members with him in Miami but he has effectively been working flat out with the team for a very long time.

Sure, it's paid off, Andy's work ethic is phenomenal, but that amazing Miami final was a killer, real blood and guts stuff. When a guy like Ferrer literally falls down with exhaustion you know that Andy is pushing himself way beyond a regular human being's physical limitations. The plan was to win the tournament but it has to be said, winning came at a price. The Monte Carlo draw was a nightmare with Andy's old nemesis Wawrinka coming way too early on for our Andy to be ready for such a tough encounter with the Swiss number two who positively relishes their encounters, especially on the dreaded dirt. Andy wasn't ready, simple as, and I'm sure Lendl with his mature wisdom and experience will be incredibly reassuring and ease any doubts Andy may be having.

The Lendl/Murray partnership is complex. This is the first time Lendl has coached anyone, let alone a maverick like Andy Murray. Andy is paying a lot of money to someone who has to make life awkward for him in order to get the best out of him. It cannot be easy but it sure is fascinating. Lendl is a man with a plan for Andy but that plan has to be flexible and forgiving in order to allow Andy time to adjust and re-develop. He has achieved so much already with his god-given talent and incredible work ethic but it is exciting that he has employed the living legend that is Lendl to push him to even greater heights.